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Functionalism: A Family's Well-Known As A Family

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When discussing social institution known as a family, it’s not hard at all to bring in several unique viewpoints to the table of conversation. After all, we know that families are a universal and culturally non-exclusive phenomenon. Every person of every race, ethnicity, and country knows the concept, and several participate in one, either in their past as a child, or in the present, with a partner. George Santayana’s famous quote goes to show the world that, “The family is one of nature's masterpieces.” Even so, a family does not have to be blood related. As Richard Bach once said, “The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life.” Therefore, the concepts and practices are well-known worldwide. …show more content…

Functionalists stress that in order to survive, a society must fulfill its basic functions/needs. When Functionalists look at families, they try to find the ways that marriage and family contribute to the well-being of society. For example, Functionalists say that a family needs to fulfill six needs that are essential to society’s well being. These 6 traits are economic production, socialization of children, care of the sick and age, recreation, sexual control, and reproduction. Functionalists also note that the incest taboo and the bearing of emotional overload apply to the structure that families bring to one another inside of their …show more content…

The symbolic interactionist theory focuses on the symbols that society places on people, places, and things, giving them different meanings. The first way symbolic interactionists look at marriage is through traditional gender roles. If you are a man, you’re expected to carry out traditionally masculine duties and work. If you are a women, you’re expected to do “women’s work”, which consists of housework and childcare. When men and women are expected to divide their time differently on separate activities, it is called the gendered division of labor. However, symbolic interactionism is unique among the theories, in the way that it can change over time. Currently, the meaning of “women’s work” is much different than it was 50 or 100 years

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Logos is presented in various ways such as statistics or even just logical thinking. Pollitt’s logical thinking is placed when she explains that Nancy Chodorow, a difference feminist who believes that naturally women are relational and men are autonomous, is wrong when analyzing the real world. Pollitt states, “If Chodorow is right relational women and autonomous men should be the norm, but are they?” (404). Pollitt is informing us that it is clear that we all seen men and women who do not follow such criteria.

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Stone writes about three essential functions of family stories– to pass on the family’s standards, to identify family characteristics, and coping strategies. The first of the three functions is the standards of the family since the family act as the “first culture,” teaching people what their family values and their opinions on certain situations like marriage and illness, mental or physical (Stone 384). The second factor is the family’s characteristics and their traits that bind them together, which act as the family member’s confidence boost (384). Furthermore, this boost makes them value themselves more than the next family, so that the family members contently remain together (384). The third factor is influencing how families cope; these “teaching stories” tell each family how to function outside of the family (385).

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In the functionalist view the family is an important institution as it is the ‘basic building block’ of society which performs crucial functions of socialising the young and meeting the emotional needs of its members. Stable families underpin social order and economic stability. This essay will be discussing the impact of economic change on families using functionalism in Ireland.

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The love of a family is life’s greatest blessing. In life, there is a universal desire for oneness among people—we want to belong. It is why we collaborate, support common causes, cheer for sports teams, feel nationalism; it’s why we build villages, towns, and cities. Families are where we connect ourselves in relationships to past, current, and future generations. For many, family is not only a blessing, but our greatest accomplishment.

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Introduction There are many different types of cultures in society around the world, all with their own individual accepted ways of behaviour, some cultures might be familiar and others might seem strange to us. Cultures have their own set of norms to control acceptable behaviour. If we as fellow human beings all took the initiative to understand each other’s cultures, it might not seem that strange to us anymore and it is possible that we could help others in a way that is acceptable to the society in which we live in. The aim of this essay is to discuss, using a view based on the sociological imagination, whether a unique personal family issue can be related to an issue in society.

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This is seen when the understanding of femininity evolved from females being expected to stay at home and ensure the well-being of the family; to the present times, where women can be employed and contribute to the financial stability of the family (Langen, 2005). In this way social constructionism can be said to helpful in family therapy in that it recognises the different values and perceptions upheld in large cultural or ethnic groups, and how they help define a functional family relative to a specific time in history (Robideau, 2008). It also recognises that the meaning and interpretation of a reality is created and can be altered through conversation (Robideau,

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234). Many sociologist now define families as “intimate social relationships that people create to share resources to ensure their welfare and that of their dependents” (Brym, 2014, p.234). Sociologists unique perspectives on families are broken into three theories; functionalists, conflict theorist, and symbolic interactionism. Functionalist Talcott Parsons believes that husbands take on the role as breadwinner and wives take on role as caregiver and that they should remain this way otherwise society will become unstable. He believes that now society has institutions in place such as daycare, preschool, nursing homes that the family life has shrunk since this was a job for woman (Brym, 2014, p.237).

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One main point of the structural functionalism theory is that the erection of a family directly impacts their likelihood of living in poverty. According to Macionis et al stated that the structural-functionalist perspective, poverty, and economic inequality serve several positive functions for society (Macionis et al 2015). Davis and Moore (1945) argued that because the various occupational roles in society require various levels of ability, expertise, and knowledge, an unequal economic reward system helps to assure that the person who performs a role is the most qualified.

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Family members may or may not be biologically related, share the same household, or be legally recognized” (Raney, 2015:6). In the series Modern family, it shows the dynamics of a 21st century family and how traditions and culture has evolved over the years. As opposed to “nuclear family” “No longer does the traditional family consist of two parents and two children; instead, more diverse and shifting family structures are becoming the norm.

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“The Changing American Family” by Natalie Angier states, “Fictive families are springing up among young people, old people, disabled people, homeless people, and may well define one of the ultimate evolutions of the family concept, maximizing, as they do, the opportunities for fulfillment of specific social and economic needs outside the constraints of biological relatedness.” The ever changing social dynamics and circumstances of this life have opened the definition of family to encompass individuals who can fill those deep-seated needs

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This essay discusses how the family is viewed by two different sociological perspectives- functionalism and conflict theory. Firstly, ‘family’ is defined. Secondly, the main ideas of functionalism will be discussed followed by how this theory perceives the family. The main ideas of Conflict Theory will then be examined and how conflict theorists perceive the family.

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Marriage and Family Functionalist perspective Family is a type of social institution concerned with the support, care, protection, and socialization of the children. The functionalist perspective on family focuses on the functions of the family, the functions being the socialization of children, providing love and companionship, regulation of sexual behaviour, and the occupation of various economic roles. Functionalists also look at how a family relates to the rest of society and how it helps maintain it. According to the functionalist view, the economic functions of a family include production and consumption, and the inheritance of wealth and other material assets from one generation to the other.

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These roles and rules shape our personal understanding of what we believe a family to be. As a result, newly formed families become a combination of two personal understandings of a family unit. This is pertinent for my future career because it helps me understand a range of diverse families and gives me a great understanding of the ways in which the definition of the term family can differ from person to

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Family or cultural traditions, dictate the art of living throughout the world.. Globally, family traditions guiding principle, right from birth to death. Strange at It may sound, these traditions are not limited only to rituals or customs, they are expressed through dance, music and food or even handing over of heirlooms. Similarly, in India, although, more often it is difficult to follow these traditions, people religiously follow them to maintain social harmony and they are even passed on to the next generation. Generally they are rituals or customs, that are unique to every family, through them, they connect with their immediate and extended families, also, the younger generation finds it easier to understand the family culture and interact with older family members.

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